


Blinking Away the Storm

by Fandoms_Against_My_Sanity



Series: Blinking Away the Storm [1]
Category: The Gifted (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Getting Together, Multi, On the Run, Psychological Torture, Thunderblink, Torture, Turner is a dick, a few OCs thrown in, but he kinda knows it, but only as minor extras, or as plot devices, switching POVs, we need more fanfics in the fandom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-08 23:38:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12875499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fandoms_Against_My_Sanity/pseuds/Fandoms_Against_My_Sanity
Summary: John stays behind, to make sure the other get away while running from Sentinel services asthey attack their base. Campbell takes an interest in him. Clarice and the rest of the group will not stop until he's back safely.





	1. Both

**Author's Note:**

> The POVs will be switching from chapter to chapter, but sometime it will switch within the same chapter, it'll be labled

** Blink **

“We need to get going!” Someone yelled, but between the sounds of gunfire and rain it was hard to tell who. Clarice quickly handed a little boy to Andy, “Go ahead, get a portal ready I’ll get the kids in the truck!” Reed shouted over the noise.

She stood in front of the truck waiting for the signal, “Go!” John shouted, “Get the trucks through I’ll hold them off.” He said lifting a cement slab over his head, tossing it at a sentinel service van.

“Are you nuts?”

“Go, I’ll be right behind you!”

“You better.” She muttered, mostly to herself. Pink sparked between her hands as she opened a portal. The first truck lurched to a start, rolling through, the gunshots got louder and Clarice could hear shouts from agents.

“Whatever you do don’t let them get away! Go through the portal if you have to!”

Clarice felt a hand on her back shove her through the portal, collapsing it in the process. The world was spinning that only got worse when a green glow lifted her from the ground and pulled her into the back of one of the trucks.

“You’re bleeding, stay still.” Caitlin said dapping a cloth to Clarice’s cheek.

“Where’s John?” Lorna asked looking outside the doors

“He said he was behind me.” Clarice said nudging Caitlin’s hand away, joining Lorna at the back of the truck. “Son of a bitch.” She muttered punching the wall “He pushed me through to use himself as a distraction so that they couldn’t follow.”

“I’m sure he’ll be okay,” Andy said “I mean the dude’s invincible, if anyone can get away its him.”

“The kid has a point,” Lorna sighed shutting the doors “We’ll get to the stronghold, he can track us and if he’s not back by morning we’ll send a group to scout the news out.”

“Whoa wait, we’re just gonna leave him behind?” Clarice asked frustrated.

“Thunderbird is a big boy, he take care of himself.” Lorna said sarcastically “John is one of the toughest fucker I’ve ever met, it’s gonna take a lot more to take him down then some men with big guns.”

“Language!” Caitlin hissed motioning to the little kids in the truck. Lorna shrugged and rolled her eyes.

“We don’t know what kind of “assets” they have with them, what if they have someone that can do something like what Pulse could, he’d be a sitting duck.”

 “Are you strong enough to open another portal to go back, fight off sentinel services, while unlike John, you aren’t bulletproof, then if you somehow survive that, open third portal to get the two of you into a moving vehicle?” Lorna said sitting on the ground “I don’t like the idea of leaving him either, but we need to get these refugees safe, regroup, recharge and you need to get that cut on your face cleaned up.”

Clarice reluctantly nodded, allowing Caitlin to go back to cleaning her wound. “He’ll be okay.” Caitlin said in a comforting tone “We got Lorna and Reed back, if we have to we’ll get him back.”

“That was before they started this witch hunt, and we barely made it out of that.” Clarice whispered, “Why does he have to be a self sacrificing moron.”     

Caitlin laughed “Men are like that sometimes.” She said glaring over her shoulder at Reed. “You just have to believe in him.”

“Okay Disney princess.” Clarice snorted.

“It’s gotten me this far.”Caitlin said putting a bandage on her cheekbone “You’re lucky this doesn’t need stitches .”

“Aw, it’s not gonna leave another beauty mark? I love getting those from my portals.”

Caitlin smirked, before going to tend to the others. Clarice sunk fully onto the ground, she couldn’t get John out of her mind, it was running wild with all of the worst case scenarios, John dead, John imprisoned, and worst of all, him drugged up and brainwashed, being forced to attack the people he’s fought so hard to protect.

Zingo padded to her side from the back of the truck, she smiled ruffling the dogs fur, Zingo whimpered, laying her head onto Clarice’s lap. “I know buddy, I want him back too.” She whispered.

** Thunderbird **

“Go, I’ll be right behind you!”

“You better.” He heard her whisper before she opened the portal and the trucks started moving through.

“Whatever you do don’t let them get away! Go through the portal if you have to!” he heard Agent Turner yell as the cars got closer.

John grabbed another slab and threw it in the way of one of the vans, he plucked some of the bullets that got caught in his vest and aimed for the tires. John heard another group of vans approaching from behind. Acting quickly he shoved Clarice through the portal before one of the vans could follow. He slammed his fist into the front of the van, before he began to lose feeling in his hands, the numbness quickly spread through his body, rendering him paralyzed in the mud as they surrounded him.

“Bring this one to my lab after your questioning Agent Turner.” Campbell said “He will be a great asset.” He closed John’s eyes leaving him in the dark, completely unable to move.


	2. Blink

** Blink  **

Clarice woke up surrounded by motion, her head was throbbing and her back was sore from sleeping on the hard metal of the box car.  Everyone was bustling around setting up various essentials around the new headquarters. She got up and shuffled around until she spotted the pop of green she was looking for.

“Any sign of John?” she asked.

Lorna looked up from the bags she had been sorting. “No, I sent Esme and Fade into town to see what the news is saying happened, Reed and Sage are listening to the police scanners now.”

“Shouldn’t we be out there looking for him? At least leaving a trail he can track. We can’t just sit here and play house when he could be hurt or lost or worse.”

“I don’t like that he’s not here yet either, hell I’d be out there looking for him myself, but Marcos played the baby card, and he’s right, after yesterday we need some monotony.” She sighed placing a hand on her stomach. “Most people here are either wanted fugitives or they can’t pass in society. We have people hurt and we only have one nurse who has a sprained ankle at the moment. Sending a search party is off the table for now.”

Clarice thought for a moment “I’ll go by myself, if I run into any trouble I can just portal away.”

Lorna shook her head “No way,  it’s too dangerous for anyone to be going anywhere off site alone, and no Zingo is not an option.”

“Who else will want to go on a needlessly dangerous mission with me then, Since you’re busy I mean.”Lorna chewed on her lip “Hey Dori, come here.” She waved to a girl with greenish gray hair.

“What’s up?” Dori asked.

“Dori, meet Clarice, Clarice meet Dori.” Lorna said “Clarice wants to go looking for Thunderbird, and its dangerous to go alone so I figured she could take you, if you’re up for it.”

“Sure, anyway to be useful.” Dori agreed.

“Great.” Clarice smiled “How soon can you be ready, I want to leave as soon as possible.”

“I’m ready now.”

“Come on then.”

“Be careful!” Lorna yelled after them.

“Yes mother!” Clarice teased  before popping the hatch to the bunker and climbing to the surface.

“Which way? The two of us can’t exactly mosey into town without causing a riot.”

“We could always check back, I can portal us a bit away, I hope you’re light footed.”

Dori smirked “One could say that.”

Clarice sparked a portal between her hand and nodded for Dori to go through,

“Hey wait!” Sonia called as she recovered the hatch “I want to help.”

Clarice hesitated “Ok, hop through.”

Once all of them were through the portal they snuck through back alleys until they weren’t too far away from where sentinel services had roped off the area, Dori held a up a finger to still the others, jagged scars on her arms glowed dimly before she transformed into a gray/green fog that floated closer to the agents.

“Should we be letting her do this?” Sonia whispered.

“Well she didn’t exactly give us the chance to stop her.”Clarice shrugged.

“Good point.” Sonia said “Johnny’s a tank but even he can’t take on an entire army.” She said worriedly  looking at the large groups of agents and scientists.

“You think they got him?” Clarice asked coldly.

“They either caught him or he’s dead.”

“Why’d you even come if you already thought it was hopeless?”

“Because I care about him and I really, really want to be wrong.”

“I care about him too, why do you think I came out here to begin with? John got left behind cause he saved my ass again.” Clarice struggled to keep her voice at whisper. “And that fucking memory you put in my head makes me care even more even though I know these feelings aren’t mine.”

Sonia looked at her confused “Clarice, that memory should have faded by now, at least the emotions that were latched to, especially since you knew it was there.”Clarice went stiff “Clarice It’s okay if you have feeling for Johnny, it’s hard not to.”  

“I don’t have feeling for him!” she defended “I mean he’s my friend, I think, and he has saved my life more times than I can count, I want to do the same for him.”

“That’s all?”

“That’s all.”

“If you two are done squabbling, we need to get back to the base. Quickly, I’ll explain when we get there.” Dori said suddenly reforming between them.

Clarice opened a portal and they went through, “So, what did you find out?”

“They obviously weren’t specific, but I overheard some suits talking about a transfer for recent capture, a male with a man bun, super strong, they said something about moving him to a detention center after someone called Turner was done grilling him.”

Clarice closed her eyes and clenched her jaw. “Are you sure they were talking about John?”

“Who else could it be?” Sonia whispered. “We should get back inside, there’s nothing we can do right now.”

Clarice sat on bed chewing on the sleeve of her sweater, tuning out the commotion around her.

_Good going Fong, just one more person who got fucked over because of you. Carl, Denise Norah, the other kids in the foster home, now John. How am I supposed so save anyone in this hellhole the world has become, it’s only going to get worse, I got put in prison for life for sealing an apple, half of the people here didn’t even do anything wrong and there on the run_

“No,” she whispered to herself as she stood up “Not again.” she stomped off looking for someone who would hopefully be able to help.


	3. Thunderbird

John sat in a chair in cold, gray room, he was restrained despite his arms and legs still being paralyzed. He had been in this room for hours, he hadn’t seen anyone aside from the nurses who tried to get blood samples, but only broke several needles in the process. John stiffened when he heard multiple footsteps approaching.

The door slid open reviling Agent Turner with a mutant behind him. “Mr. Proudstar, I’m Agent Jace Turner, do you know why you’re here?” John glared at Turner as he sat across from him. “Strong, silent type I see.” Turner opened his file “You are here because you are being charged with terrorism in your roll in aiding and abetting fugitive mutants. Now if you want to lighten your sentence, you’ll cooperate.”

John clenched his jaw, and turned his attention to the blank faced mutant standing by the door, he was around John’s age with dull brown hair with empty yellow eyes. “by cooperate you want me to sell out my family, for a lie that even if it were true I wouldn’t agree to. I’m afraid you’re out of luck agent, no matter what your hounds can do, it won’t get you anywhere. I don’t know where they went, only the drivers knew the destination. So why waste anymore time, though I will warn you, you’ll have a hell of time turning me into one of your puppets.” He said bitterly maintaining eye contact until Turner broke it by staring at the file in front of him.

“Mr. Proudstar, this is inevitable, we will find them, sooner or later.”

“If I can make it later I will.”

“I am trying to help you.”

“You’re trying to enslave us.”

“There are measures that mutants can take to be able to live safely in society.”

John laughed dryly “By tagging us like wild animals. I’ve seen the commercials for the new “school” you’re brainwashing those kids. And I get the feeling that you know this is wrong, but something is blinding you, to the point where you’re willing to give up your humanity.”

Turner clenched his jaw and refused to meet John’s gaze. “You have no idea what your kind has done from this side of things.”

“And you don’t know what your people have done from our side. The families you have destroyed.”

“Mutants destroyed my family!” Turner snapped slamming his palms on the table. “My daughter is dead because of mutants! I am trying to protect others from losing their children!”

John’s face softened “I am so sorry. I know you won’t believe me but I genuinely am.”  Turner’s gaze retreated to his papers. “But is this really what your daughter would have wanted, to watch her father lose his humanity and tear other families apart. To face fates like Trask, mindless puppets force to fight, kill and imprison more people to suffer the same torture they went through.”

“The mutant that killed my daughter was never found. What I want, what she would want is justice and to make sure no one else gets hurt.”

“No child wants to see their hero become a monster. Look at him and tell me that you truly believe that he deserves this, that anyone deserves it.”

Turner closed his eyes tightly. “We’re done here. Prepare Mr. Proudstar for transfer, immediately.”

The numbness spread as the mutants eyes glowed. John knew he wasn’t unconscious but was surrounded by darkness, he couldn’t feel anything or move, even his hearing was muffled. After what felt like hours the numbness slowly faded away, he was in a small cell with a giant window in the front, like a zoo. A large collar was tightly clipped around his neck. He tried to lift himself from the cot but he toppled to the floor.

_“No! Let her go! Take me!” a man’s scream echoed in his head. “She hasn’t done anything! Please! You sick fucks she’s pregnant! Take me!”his collar lit up bringing him to the ground as his shadow on the wall near the men collapsed._

_“Joel!” a woman screamed, reaching out from between the men who were restraining her, lights were exploding around her, bars bending forward, glass breaking in nearby cells. The collar on her neck beeping loudly sending shocks through her body before she finally went limp._

John snapped out of the vision, gasping and clutching his ears. “Keep it together John.” He whispered to himself, standing on shaky legs, he placed his hands on the glass.

_“Lyssa!” Joel screamed, his eyes blacked out and shadows rose up from the ground, he screamed sending the shadows through the glass after the men, one pressed a button on his belt and the shocks intensified._

_“Please understand, Mr. Charles you’re wife is very powerful. She is of the utmost priority. You are not. So if you want even the slightest chance to meet the little time bomb growing inside of her, you’ll shut up.” Campbell said before injecting Joel with a large dose of morphine._

John resisted the urge to punch the window, of course he got the cell where a husband watched as his pregnant wife was torn away from him. Who knows what became of them, but he feared he would eventually find out.


	4. Blink

Clarice was wondering around the stronghold, she had struck out several times on forming a team to go save John, no one wanted to risk it, even though he would and has risked everything to save everyone in here at some point.

“Hey, are you the one whose looking to raid Trask for Thunderbird?” a young man said tapping her on the shoulder. “I wanna join.”

“Well the team so far consists of you and I and that’s it.” Clarice laughed “I’m Clarice, you are?”

“Seth. I have a friend I might be able to convince to join, they’re a shape shifter.”

“The more the merrier, what can you do?”

“I can make people do whatever I want, so long as I can maintain eye contact for long enough. It’ll come in handy. ” Seth said eagerly “I’ll go find Riley.”

Two possibly three people, it wasn’t ideal but it was better than just her, since she wasn’t a fighter and her powers weren’t exactly combat abilities. Compulsion and shape shifting weren’t either but maybe they could manipulate their way in, no one had to get her hurt.

  _As if, when has any of these plans ended well. We don’t even know where he is being held._

“Clarice?” she glanced up at Andy’s voice. “I want to help find John.”

“Have your parents okayed this?”

“Yeah, of course.” He said scratching the back of his neck.

She looked at him skeptically. “Really, so if I go up to Caitlin right now she’ll say yes?”

“Ok, no, I haven’t asked them, but I wanna help, John saved us and after seeing what Trask did to Chloe,” Andy shivered “And I know that they won’t let me.”

“I can’t let you go without Caitlin and Reed being on board. This is going to be dangerous, more dangerous than interfering with the prison bus.”

“But you’re gonna need someone who can do what I can do!” he said angrily causing the surrounding area to shake.

“I’m sorry, trust me, I know how you could be useful in this but you’re a kid, I can’t bring you along.”

Andy clenched and unclenched his fists “Let me help in other ways then, I can get supplies ready, help get people on board. I want to do something.”   

Clarice thought for a moment “Ok, but you are not coming with us. You hear me?”

“I hear you.” Andy smiled jogging over to the supply room.

Clarice flopped down on her cot, John made rallying people look easy, but he had military training, he had been doing this for a long time now. She was way out of her depth, Clarice wouldn’t give up, he wouldn’t so neither would she. 

“Whoa, cool hair!” a boy’s voice said. Clarice opened her eyes just in time to see his teal hair morph into magenta.

“You must be Riley.”

“At your service milady,” he bowed tipping an imaginary hat “Sticking it to Trask, fuck yeah I’m in.”

“Great, do you think you and Seth could go into town, the detention center can’t be that far away, we need to find the place before we can put a plan together, I figure between the shape shifter and hypnotist you’ll be able to get into something.”

Riley nodded “Can do, can do, We’ll go in the morning. I need to pick a form.” He said his body shifting into a busty, blonde girl, “What? To obvious, I’ll work on it.” He shrugged morphing back and walking away.

_Progress! Yes! OK, now what would John do._

“Hey Marcos-“

“I’m in.” he said immediately “We’re gonna need muscle in case things go south. Why didn’t you ask me sooner?”

“I figured you’d say no, being a leader and all.”

“Polaris and Dreamer have this place covered. John’s by best friend, I’m not letting him end up like Pulse. no hay manera en el infierno.” Marcos sighed “But this is your mission. You’re in charge.” Clarice opened and closed her mouth “Got it. I’m going to talk to the Strucker’s, not just because of Andy and Lauren they don’t even need to come, but with Reed’s know how on law stuff, and having a nurse close by in case. That’s a good call right?” “Up to you boss.” Marcos smirked. “That’s not helping my confidence!” she yelled as he walked toward Lorna.  _OK I can do this. For John_ Clarice paused, did she have feeling for John, _no, you’re being ridiculous, it’s just that memory Dreamer put in my head, I don’t see him like that and he doesn’t see me like that, if that memory is anything to go by he’s loves Sonia_


	5. Thunderbird

John never thought that being in prison would be boring, he laid on the stiff cot staring at the ceiling for hours now, he took off his shoe and played catch with it until he heard footsteps matched with the clank of metal hitting itself. John stood in a defensive position as they passed his cell, shoving a blue haired girl in the one next to him. The girl curled up in the corner, sobbing quietly. “Hey.” He said kneeling at the bars “I’m John.” She looked up at him for a moment before turning away. “You’re Lyssa right?” 

She turned back, “How do you know my name?”

“I can see things that happened, can’t always control it so the collar doesn’t pick up on it, I saw your husband… Joel?”Lyssa let out another sob “I’m sorry, I didn’t meant to-“

“It’s alright.” She whispered “Actually it’s not, nothing is in this hellhole, but it’s not your fault.”

“What are they doing to you?”

“Nothing extreme yet, I’m carrying precious cargo.” She said dryly resting her hand on her baby bump “They won’t let anything happen to the baby, they want to see what it’ll be able to do.” She moved closer to the bars. “When I found out I was pregnant, I was terrified, but even then I never even thought about getting rid of it, but in here I do, just so I can save my baby from all of this.”

John placed a hand on her shoulder “You and your baby are going to be okay.”

“How could you possible think that?”                            

“Trust me.”

“You’re a confident man John. Stupidly so, Just like Joel.”

“I know everything is… shit right now, but if I know my people, they’ll come for me, and we’ll get you out of here.”

She laughed “Joel said the same thing,  that his brother was just gonna waltz in here telling people what to do, and we’d just walk out. That was three months ago, he never came, no one did. You’d think with all these powers we’d be able to protect ourselves, but protecting ourselves just put us in more danger. What’s the point of having these powers if we can’t use them.”

“I… I” John didn’t know what to say.

Lyssa’s face was tired, “I could bring this entire building down.” She said her eyes glued to her feet “I barely even notice the shocks anymore, but I don’t. I want to. I want to so fucking much, but I don’t.”

“Because you know there are innocent people here, captives just like us.”

“Not just that. Joel and I were just walking to our doctor’s appointment, when Sentinel serviced nabbed us for, “disturbing the peace,” we didn’t fight back cause all they have to do is call you dangerous, I didn’t want to prove them right.” Lyssa sighed twirling her fingers “They haven’t seen dangerous from me. Not yet.”

“Stooping to their level isn’t-“

“This is nowhere near their level! They are experimenting on us, they killed my husband, they want to turn my baby into a weapon! And a whole host of other unspeakably horrible things!” her collar lit up. She closed her eyes to compose herself. “They don’t care about those who get caught in the crossfire.”

“We do. If we stop thinking of the innocents, we’ll be just like them, they think we’re monsters, don’t give them a reason to. I’ve seen what they have done, they turned my best friend into a hound, made him help capture others, maybe even you. I wasn’t able to save him, but I promised him as he died in my arms that they would pay for what they’ve done. And they will, but intentionally causing damage like 7/15, We’ll never be able to move forward when everyone is afraid of us, more people like Campbell will pop up, more people will die on both sides. Everyone has a reason for fighting this fight.”

Lyssa was silent. “You better be right about this rescue, cause I don’t know how much more I can take.” She rubbed her hands together “Whether I want to or not, something’s gonna happen.”

John closed his eyes and clenched his jaw “For once I hope they do something stupid.”


End file.
